Class I English for Today

, it will decrease the traffic jam and the statistical risk of road accidents. Nowadays the number of housewives is decreasing substantially because women are getting much more involved with jobs and the other engagements due to modernisation and digitalisation. All are getting busier one way or the other. The children hardly live with their grandparents, aunts or uncles who could have assisted for their schooling. All these factors should be considered before selecting the appropriate age of schooling as well as the place and environment of the school. The schooling should be as affordable as possible depending on the ability of the parents. Suppose some neighbours have sent their offspring to a rich school. Does it mean you should do the same? A common proverb is “Cut your coat according to your cloth”. Does it mean that you are under-privileged? If you speculate you will realise the fact. It is more likely that the more you have money, the less you have time or vice-versa, though there are exceptions everywhere. It is better to compare several factors which will help find what is better. Can you certify something which is good for someone is also good for you? To clarify, your children are not as safe and comfortable inside a private car as they are on a rickshaw or a public transport. But you should not be hopeless since Francis Bacon wittily advocates adversity to be preferred to advantages. For example, Razzak, the prominent former film actor was asked why his son could not earn the similar fame or even better than he had. In reply, Razzak said he had to make harder efforts to build a platform while his son had already occupied it free of efforts. In fact, adversity is the real spur for moving forward to a safer-ground. There may be usually three kinds of students. Firstly, there are students who memorise hard and perform well in the exams up to intermediate but they cannot keep their energy in the graduation level, and subsequently develop a distaste to studies. From my own experience and observation while teaching at tertiary level I can identify the main reason of some of the negligent, inattentive, irregular, careless, dull students who are devoid of exam-phobia and absolutely free from tension and facilitative anxiety. The reason is: they had been regular in the schools, busy with private tuitions and coaching centres only because they were afraid of punishment by the parents. Such kind of a girl was found to have been busy for 51 hours weekly—30 hours in the school, 9 hours in the coaching centre and 12 hours for private tuition. Her father was happy; her mother was happier; the private tutors and coaching instructors were the happiest, though it does not matter she was the unhappiest. Now her parents cannot keep an eye with her as she studies at a university—free from her parents’ choices, powerful to decide not to take part in the classes, confidently well-planned to study just in the previous night of an exam whatever may befall upon her next. In her school life she learnt by heart the application entitled ‘Full free studentship’. Now she learns a similar lesson entitled ‘Full free careless life’—no tension or anxiety, no study but only fun with Facebook, dress-up, make-up, birthdays with friends, visiting DITF, window-shopping and what not. The proverb says “All that glitters is not gold”. Likewise, the students who perform well in the beginning do not guarantee their consistent performance up to the last. Secondly, there are students who were free from family pressure and somehow were still interested in school and studies. Later on they are still willing for higher studies positively and they remain bright students from the beginning to the last. After a lot of reflections and observations over many of these bright students I have understood the prominent reason: they were not forced to study but were observed by their talented parents whether they were losing their taste for studies or growing up with even better taste for studies, or if not, what to do to return their taste for studies. To clarify, in my childhood we used to play with toys which were able to walk straight unless blocked by a wall. The toys tried to break the wall but failed and still kept on trying as if “Failure is the pillar of success” and like “Try a hundred times”. But these days we see toys which turn back or side to avert the wall and move on straight unless another wall blocks and does the same again and again. Similarly, the boys who are forced but not observed with caution may go astray especially when the parents will lose their hold of control especially in their graduation level. Lastly, there are students who do not pay heed to early education for fun and games and sports but later on, may have developed inner urge for one reason or the other. Subsequently they may study hard themselves and continue higher studies contentedly. They are the real self-leaners with speculation, reflections and observations and eventually may develop insight and can go deep into the subjects which have provoked them to ponder over interestingly. Shakespeare says “All’s well, that ends well”. Everything has both sides—good or bad—like a coin. The early schooling may be detrimental to subsequent studies due to several reasons. The school teachers may be low-paid and not well-trained and at the same time, are not motivated to discharge their duties properly. As a result, they may lose temper, fail to control it quickly and punish the children unscrupulously. I remember the comic cartoon in The Daily Star where the student was severely punished because he had made a spelling mistake ‘panishment’ instead of ‘punishment’ in the sentence “Physical punishment is prohibited”. In these circumstances, the teachers must be properly paid, well-trained and motivated to be caring rather than to be stern, rigid, bad-tempered and prone to punish. The school is not the end to studies, they have a far distance to go. If they are properly cared and taught, they will keep their taste for studies and will tend to study further themselves. As a result, they will require no home-tutors, private-tutors, coaching centres and will not search the importantly probable questions for the exams.